Raymond keeps rolling

MELBOURNE -- Lisa Raymond followed her upset over Venus Williams with an easy victory, defeating wild-card entry Tatiana Golovin, 6-2, 6-0, today to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals.

The 25th-seeded Raymond equaled her best performance in 44 previous Grand Slam tournaments. She reached the quarters at Wimbledon in 2000.

"It would have been pretty easy for me to have the letdown after playing so well against Venus," Raymond said. "I just went out there and just kept playing the way I've been playing. I was able to play well, so I felt good about how I handled the situation."

Her quarterfinal opponent is Patty Schnyder, seeded 22d, who posted a 6-2, 6-4 win over Nathalie Decy.

Second-seeded Kim Clijsters joined them in the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Silvia Farina Elia.

Clijsters will play sixth-seeded Anastasia Myskina, who rallied for a 6-7 (7-3), 6-2, 6-2 win over ninth-seeded Chanda Rubin.

Myskina also beat Rubin in the fourth round at the Australian last year before losing to Clijsters in the quarterfinals.

With the host nation celebrating Australia Day today, two big Aussie hopes were figuring in center-court matches.

Lleyton Hewitt, a two-time major winner, faces Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, while No. 10 Mark Philippoussis plays Hicham Arazi in fourth-round action.

Eighth-seeded David Nalbandian will play the winner of the Federer-Hewitt match after his fourth-round 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 win over fellow Argentine Guillermo Canas.

Nalbandian, who lost the 2002 Wimbledon final to Hewitt, hasn't dropped a set in four matches.

No. 3 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Andrei Pavel, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Raymond won the last 11 points of her match. She made the most of her French opponent's 22 errors, including a double fault on break point in the opening game of the second set.

At 30, Raymond has won four singles titles on the tour and 42 doubles championships. She has won three Grand Slam women's doubles titles, but lost with Martina Navratilova in the second round at this event.

"I haven't really played my best tennis in the Grand Slams. For me to be able to play this kind of tennis here in Australia is great," Raymond said.

Golovin, who celebrated her 16th birthday yesterday, had only one win on the WTA Tour before arriving at Melbourne Park. She was ranked No. 354 coming into the season's first major.

"My goal was to get one or two rounds, so it's great I lost in the fourth," Golovin said. Raymond produced the upset of the first week when she beat third-seeded Williams in straight sets in the third round. Raymond hadn't won a set off the four-time Grand Slam winner in their three previous encounters.

Clijsters dropped serve once in each set against Farina Elia but was otherwise happy with her progress. She was sidelined for two weeks before the tournament after injuring her left ankle in the Hopman Cup.

"I felt good out there, very lucky to complete this week, but I'm playing really well," she said. "I didn't have the amount of practice I wanted to have or should have had, but I still feel like I'm hitting the ball as well as I want to."

Clijsters showed no signs of her sprained ankle, at one point sprinting in from behind the baseline to flick a drop volley just over Farina Elia's head.

In women's matches yesterday, top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne advanced with a 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Italian qualifier Mara Santangelo. Henin-Hardenne moved into quarterfinal against 2000 champion Lindsay Davenport, a 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 11 Vera Zvonareva.

Amelie Mauresmo beat Alicia Molik, 7-5, 7-5, ensuring she'll rise to a career-high No. 3 in the WTA Tour rankings.

Defending men's champion Andre Agassi extended his winning stretch at the Australian Open to 25 matches with a straight-sets victory over Paradorn Srichaphan, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-4. Top-ranked Andy Roddick slammed 14 aces in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 16 Sjeng Schalken.

Roddick will play 2000 US Open champion Marat Safin in the quarterfinals, while Agassi must get past No. 9 Sebastien Grosjean. Safin eliminated former Harvard star James Blake.